When the Law Catches Up with Digital Mental Health
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Sandra O'Neill provides valuable psychoeducation, customised training, and counselling services in the workplace through the unique perspective of a mental health professional who has also had years of senior leadership experience across various business sectors, within corporate organisations, government, not-for-profit, and small business.
A new age of digital fatigue is amongst us, as now AI is sliding into our DM’s ‘Daily Mentalities’, so it’s important to recognise the impacts of our digital world on well-being. The growth of digital consumption is fast-moving worldwide, which is driven by more advanced connectivity, convenience, and increasing engagement in content and entertainment. Whilst there are great benefits to digital advancements and Artificial Intelligence, so too there is a downside. As digital growth outpaces society norms, so does the need for legislation to keep up with the evolving landscape.
Let’s explore the good, bad and the ugly
With the increased implementation of digital and AI tools comes great benefits such as automation, enhanced efficiency, innovation, and data analysis to support decision-making. We see widespread use in many industries like healthcare, finance, retail, and manufacturing. It’s shifting our job market, with both redundancies and creation of roles. The impact is huge, real, and now. So what about the drawbacks? Apart from the risk of reliability and fake news, how is the human brain designed to navigate a highly digitalized world?
What is digital fatigue?
Digital fatigue is the exhaustion and overwhelm resulting from constant interactions with technologies, brought on by digital burnout through extended screen times, social substitution, and unstructured work hours that merge into what used to be ‘downtime’. This phenomenon drastically blurs the boundaries between work and life. Combined with social conditioning and algorithms that support unconscious bias, overusage directly impacts our cognitive abilities, attention span, and sleep. At its best, digital overload can lead to FOMO (fear of missing out), at its worst, it can have profound and serious long-term effects on the human brain.
Like with anything from food, to alcohol, and gambling, with a balanced approach, no big issues arise, but with overuse, the addiction factor can be a risk to our health.
Brain health has been reshaped by digital
There is growing evidence to suggest that extensive screen time on digital media correlates to neuropsychological issues such as reduced attention and memory, erratic task switching, impulse control and emotional regulation as the plasticity in our prefrontal cortex changes. Social media stimuli increase fragmented attention, which over time reinforces neural pathways, interfering with authentic connection and daily tasks. These rich connections are necessary for well-being and social inclusion, becoming scrambled and leaving people feeling tired and worn out. This chronic mental state causes tension, irritability, and emotional exhaustion, which, left unmanaged, can potentially lead to increased anxiety and depression.
On an adult brain, this is concerning enough, but what about developing brains in children? The neuroplasticity of the frontal lobe rewires through overuse of digital and AI tools. As children today are impacted earlier, they have no benchmark to compare with, as previous generations of baby boomers, Gen X, and even some millennials have been able to. The good news is that this can be rewired back.
Legislation to mitigate impacts of digital overload
Australia is leading the way in implementing laws as a way to mitigate against some of the negative impacts of digital overload. Legislation to ban social media use for children under the age of 16 became effective in December 2025 across all main social media platforms, including YouTube. Whilst the move was controversial and some users find loopholes around age verification, the ban brings an overall shift in the way young people and parents question the impacts of overload and the consequences to youth during critical years of brain development and socialisation. Other nations are looking with interest and some already have restrictions such as parental consent. This bold legal mandate may just see the shift needed to how we recognise the impacts and find the right balance.
Similarly to awareness of the impact on children’s psychological safety, so too have laws been introduced in Australia to support the workforce. The introduction of the ‘Right to Disconnect’ allows employees to refuse work-related contact outside their normal working hours, which is a new inclusion in the Fair Work Act of 2009. The initial introduction of this change started in August 2024 for non-small business employers and extended to small business employers in August 2025. As advances in technology have increased, so has the expectation to be available around the clock.
Watch this space
What do these laws tell us? It tells us that research is beginning to catch up with digital mental health, albeit not at the same expediential rate of growth, but nevertheless a start to support the known impacts of digital fatigue on humans. Whilst the rest of the world is taking a watch and see approach to some legislative changes, perhaps it’s time to take this into your own hands.
Takeout
Monitor digital usage at work and play. Notice your time spent on devices and use it to your advantage rather than an aimless scroll or excessive dopamine hits from likes, which is fleeting. Consider your mood and observe those around you, children, partners, colleagues and deeply examine the benefits of how you use digital and the drawbacks you notice. Take a digital audit. Everyone is different, there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Like all evolution, it takes time for appropriate legislation to catch up with the pitfalls, so get ahead of the game and judge for yourself.
Read more from Sandra O'Neill
Sandra O'Neill, Psychoeducation Trainer & Counsellor
Sandra O'Neill brings together a unique blend of experience in mental health, education, and business, intertwining these areas of knowledge to empower individuals and business leaders. As a Trainer and Registered Counsellor, she specialises in psychoeducation, particularly within the workplace, bringing together decades of knowledge in business, leadership, and organisational practices, to align with the psychosocial responsibilities of a modern era workplace. With a passion in human services, Sandra also provides counselling to individuals through workplace and private practice, to support mental health and wellbeing.
